


One Moment

by masulevin



Series: Written in the Stars [8]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-15 03:15:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19602670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masulevin/pseuds/masulevin
Summary: A cure for Ellen Ryder's AEND has been found, and she's been brought out of cryostasis into a world where her estranged husband is dead and her children are no longer speaking. All she can do is look toward the future.A gen fic for MER Week 2019. Rating for swearing.





	One Moment

Ellen comes to slowly, comforted by the familiar sounds of hospital monitors beeping regularly around her. This has been her life for the past months; she’s used to it now, much as she hates it. A nearby door opens and then closes; the quiet sounds of a nurse coming to check on her rouses Ellen closer to consciousness and she blinks her eyes open with painful slowness.

The lights in her room are low but still hurt her eyes, like she’s been asleep for a long time. She squints at the unfamiliar ceiling, trying to find the last thing she can remember before falling asleep. It wasn’t this ceiling. Avery had been there, of course. Scott had been there. Even Alec was there to say goodbye…

Goodbye?

She tries to sit up, but her muscles are too weak and she doesn’t do much more than twitch on the mattress. The nurse makes a startled noise and then suddenly there’s a hand on her shoulder that slides down to her wrist to check her pulse.

She can turn her head at least, and she does so, accidentally staring directly at the nurse’s chest. It’s a woman, a human, and the logo on her uniform makes Ellen’s blood run cold.

_ AI. _

_ Andromeda Initiative. _

Alec. Shit. She struggles to sit up again, but the nurse is making shushing noises and patting her arm. 

“I’ll go get the doctor. Hold on, Mrs. Ryder.”

Ellen lets the irritation from that overcome the panic of the Andromeda Initiative logo. She didn’t fight her way through years of graduate school to be called  _ Mrs.  _ anything. She relaxes against the stiff hospital pillow and waits as the nurse all but flees from the room.

She takes stock of what she can while she’s alone, assessing her situation the best she knows how. The ever-present headache that plagued her since months before her diagnosis is gone, or it’s at least different, specific to the very base of her skull rather than the whole thing. Surgery then, perhaps, with the incision site causing pain as it heals?

Is she in an experimental hospital attached to the Initiative, a recipient of some sort of medical treatment she didn’t know about? Avery has legal control over her medical decisions, has for a while, but they’d talked about this at length, over late nights and cups of tea and whole boxes of tissues. Ellen was a fighter, but some things weren’t worth it. She didn’t want to try some off-the-wall treatment and end up as a vegetable. If she didn’t have her mind, what was she?

If Avery signed off on a treatment, it must be trustworthy, but… they hadn’t discussed any new treatments, not that Ellen can remember. Of course, some mild amnesia could be a symptom of the surgery and not a sign of anything nefarious.

And yet…

The door opens again and a doctor she doesn’t recognize comes into the room with the same nurse. The doctor seems pleasant enough, professional, a datapad in his hands and the same god-forsaken logo on his crisp white uniform.

“Mrs. Ryder, how are you feeling?” He holds up his wrist and orange light flares from it, and she flinches away from the brightness.

Her mouth is dry. Her lips are dry. But still, she manages, “Not Mrs.”

The doctor blinks at her. “Excuse me?”

She blinks back as the orange light fades. “It’s doctor. Or just Ellen.”

The doctor smiles and sits down at her side. “Ellen,” he says, and she’s not really surprised by his choice. “I’m Dr. Rees. Can you tell me the last thing you remember?”

She frowns at him. “I was dying,” she says, voice as stern as she can make it with her throat raw. “I had said my goodbyes. I was in London, with my daughter. At the National.” There’s a pause, then she adds, “May I ask where I am now?”

He gives her an easy smile. She hates him. Alec must have picked him out. “You’re in the Hyperion, on Meridian, in the Andromeda Galaxy.” He reaches out to take her hand in his, and she pulls away to fold her fingers in her lap. She still feels slow and sluggish, but at least her body is starting to respond to her commands. He clears his throat. “You were in cryostasis until recently, when a treatment for AEND was developed in conjunction with the native scientists.”

Native scientists? A treatment?

“Your prognosis is very good. The procedure should stop the disease’s progression, and remaining symptoms -- your ataxia and any mental confusion -- should clear up with further therapies. Do you have any questions?”

He’s still smiling mildly at her and she wants to claw his face off, ataxia or no.

Instead, she smiles pleasantly back at him like he’s an asshole department chair who’s deciding which research team gets the next grant and says, “Where are my kids?”

The smile falls a little. “We called Scott to let him know you woke up. He should be here soon.”

“And Avery?”

“She’s off-planet right now,” he says, purposefully vague, like the fact that he treated Ellen without Avery’s approval isn’t illegal in the Milky Way. “I’m sure Scott will be able to contact her for you when he arrives.”

Dr. Rees doesn’t mention Alec, and Ellen doesn’t ask. The nurse reappears even though Ellen hadn’t seen her leave and helps prop her up with a combination of adjustable bed base and extra pillows before helping her sip some water. It irritates her throat to swallow, but the coolness helps her mouth and lips. 

The nurse leaves again, and so does the doctor, and Ellen sits alone in the dark, staring at the door, waiting for her family to come to her.

\---

She’s on the verge of tears by the time Scott makes it to her room. She’s alone and she doesn’t know where her family is, or if Alec and Avery are even alive, and she doesn’t know anything about Meridian or the Andromeda galaxy or the natives.

As soon as Scott opens the door and sees her sitting upright, he bursts into tears and climbs into the bed beside her, his head on her chest, and just sobs like he hasn’t since he was eight. She cries too, even though she doesn’t know why he’s so upset, and runs her fingers through his hair until he calms.

“What’s wrong, baby?” She brushes his hair back from his forehead and kisses his temple, ignoring the way her hands still shake. After a moment, he pulls away, moving to sit in the chair by the side of her bed, and scrubs at his face with the heels of his hands. 

When he finally looks at her, and she gets a chance to really  _ see  _ him, she’s shocked. He looks so much older than he had when she last saw him, even though his nose and eyes are red and his hair is sticking straight up at the front from her fingers. He’s filled out, his beard is thicker, he has wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and what looks like the top of a tattoo peeking out from under his collar.

She still feels like she just saw him yesterday. What  _ happened? _

“Alexander Scott Ryder,” she says, voice hard and sounding more serious now that she’s been awake for hours. He flinches like he used to, like no time has passed. “Tell me what happened.”

He hangs his head. “Dad put you in cryo and brought you here because he thought there’d be a cure here, and there was.” She stares at him, silent, and he continues after a pause, “He didn’t tell us.”

Something uncomfortable unfurls in her gut. “He didn’t tell you.”

Scott shakes his head. “You were so sick, Mom. We thought you died.”

The unfurling thing snaps and turns into white-hot rage. Her babies thought she was dead. She was put in stasis against her express wishes -- how many times had she  _ told  _ Alec she didn’t want him to do something like this? -- and her children had mourned her. Alone. 

“I’m going to kill him,” she says, her voice deadly even.

Scott chokes out a laugh and rubs his face again. “He died when we got here.”

The rage fades suddenly. It leaves her empty. Tired. “When was that?” They’d been estranged there, at the end when she was so sick. She can mourn him later, when she has all the facts. 

He has to think for a second. “Five years ago. Avery came over on the Nexus, so she was here first. She’s been here six years.”

“Avery came?” Avery had a life in London. She’d been pretty happy there, Ellen thought, with a girlfriend and a good job, and she was like Ellen. Neither had any interest in uprooting themselves to follow Alec’s scheming to Andromeda.

“She agreed after your memorial service. She didn’t want to be alone.” Scott’s voice cracks again and Ellen covers her mouth with her hands. 

She wasn’t there for her kids. 

She let them down.

“Oh, Mom, don’t cry. Hey. It’s okay. You’re here now.”

She hadn’t realized she’d started crying again. Scott pulls her hands away from her face and holds them in his. 

“Are you okay? What do you need?”

That’s a big question. She needs a lot of things. She needs her babies. She needs Alec. She needs to find out what’s been happening and why she’s here and where exactly here is. She needs to find out what’s changed with her disease and what the treatments actually are. 

She’s afraid. Ellen Ryder is never  _ afraid. _

“Water,” she says, and her voice is a croak but it doesn’t shake.

Scott nods and is on his feet and out the door before she can say anything else, back in a flash with a pitcher of water and some cups, all with the same AI on their sides. He gives her a cup and takes the other for himself, sitting back down at her side.

She drinks slowly, getting used to the new taste of it, and then says, “Tell me… everything.”

\---

Avery bursts into the medical wing of the Hyperion with fury in her eyes and her biotic field barely contained. She scares a group of orderlies and they scatter to avoid her. She marches past everyone and heads right to Harry’s office, just like she had the last time she arrived on the Hyperion.

He’s waiting for her. As soon as the door opens, he’s up and around his desk. He reaches out like he’s going to hug her, but changes his mind and puts one hand on her upper arm instead. He squeezes it in greeting and turns her with it, pointing her back out into the hallway.

“Follow me.” 

She does. He leads her through the hallway and into parts she’s never been to before. There are more patient rooms up here, some of them filled, a few employees walking around here or there. Harry stops in front of a closed door and glances at Avery with his hand on the control panel. She nods at him, and he presses the button.

The door slides open and Ellen looks up. She looks just like Avery remembers from before: pale and thin with a constant tremble, but she’s  _ alive.  _ She’s moving. She’s smiling and holding both her hands out and Avery throws herself forward into them.

“Mama, you’re okay.” Avery’s crying, and Ellen gathers her up into her lap as well as she can, mouthing a silent  _ thank you  _ over Avery’s shoulder toward Harry. He smiles and taps the door control again. It slides closed with a quiet  _ snick.  _

Alone with her mother for the first time in years, Avery sobs. She sobs for the time she missed. She sobs for the conversations they didn’t get to have, and the moments Ellen missed.

Ellen holds her close and rocks her with slow motions, murmuring quiet nonsense words. She wants to pull her daughter into herself and never let her go. She wants to keep her safe from everything she’s already experienced, all the pain she’s already gone through, all the struggles and the trauma.

“It’s okay, baby girl, I’m here now. You’re okay. Mama’s here.”

This makes Avery cry harder, sobs that wrack her whole body and make her gasp for breath. Ellen holds her through it and sheds tears of her own as her daughter begins to calm.

When Avery sits up and wipes her eyes, Ellen grabs her chin. “What happened to you?”

Avery laughs, but it’s watery. “Where do you want me to start?”

“Here.” Ellen runs her fingertips over the faded scar under Avery’s eye.

“How much do you know about Kadara?”

“Scott told me there were some troubles when the Nexus arrived here, and that some of the people left and set up a city there. He didn’t give me many details. That boy is just like his father.”

Avery laughs again, this time bitterness joining the dampness that was there before. She tells her mother almost everything, from the beginning, about how she decided to leave the Milky Way and join the Initiative, how she accidentally woke too early, how she ended up on Kadara and then ended up on the wrong side of Sloane, how she fell in love, how Scott took her away, and how she made her way back to Reyes despite everything. She skips some of the seedier details, like exactly what Reyes' job is, and exactly how Scott managed to get her to leave Kadara. Those aren't important, not right now. Later, maybe. Probably.

They’re both crying again by the end. Ellen holds Avery’s hands in hers, fingers playing with the rings on Avery’s left hand.

“I’m so happy you found someone,” Ellen says, wiping her eyes with the back of her free hand. “I never wanted you to be alone.”

“Once you’re feeling up to it, you can come live with us if you want. We have the room. Unless you want to stay here, I mean. Meridian is beautiful.”

Ellen shakes her head. “I don’t want to intrude, baby. You’re still newlyweds. You need your space.”

“I missed you,” is Avery’s only response.

Ellen squeezes her fingers. “I missed you too. What took so long for you to get here? Scott said he contacted you days ago.”

Avery draws in a sharp breath, then releases it. “Scott didn’t. Harry did.”

“What?”

“Harry called me two days ago. I came as soon as Reyes could bring me. He had to rearrange a work thing.”

Ellen closes her eyes and sighs, swaying slightly.

“You okay?”

She opens her eyes and gives her daughter a small smile. “I’m okay. Just tired. A lot… a lot has changed this week.”

“Want some water? Or food? I can call--”

“Just water’s fine.” Ellen interrupts her daughter’s offer, knowing full well that an Avery who works herself up into offering help can only be stopped early or after help has already been received. “Please? There’s a pitcher over there.” She points, and Avery climbs off the bed to pour two glasses. “And tell that husband of yours to come see me.”

Avery sits back down. “Okay. He has a surprise for you.”

“He does?”

Avery nods but doesn’t give any hints, just pulling up her omnitool and shooting off a short message. 

They don’t even have to wait a minute before the door is opening again. Reyes is there, smiling at the two women, a bag hanging off one arm and his hands supporting a sling across his chest.

Ellen’s eyes drop from his face to the sling, then snap back over to Avery, who nods with a growing smile.

“I guess I left some details out. Mama, this is Reyes.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ellen says, voice faint, and Reyes echoes her sentiment.

He puts the bag down on the floor as Avery stands to help, reaching to lift their daughter from the sling. Her face softens as she stares down at the infant, alone for just a moment, then she turns back to her mom. 

“And this is Eden.” She leans over Ellen’s spot on the bed and passes the baby over. Eden’s eyes blink open slowly and gaze up at the strange woman holding her. “Eden, this is your Grandma.”

“Oh, baby, she’s beautiful. Oh, hello, Eden.” 

Avery takes a step back as Ellen coos over the baby and turns back to Reyes. He’s removed the sling and is ready to gather her into his arms and kiss the top of her head, just like he always does when she’s overwhelmed by anything.

Her family’s together again. Her mom is healthier and will continue to improve. This is all she’s wanted, and yet… she feels like she’s missing something. Some detail has been left out and she can’t put her finger on it.

Eden’s reedy cries distract her, and she turns in Reyes’ arms to look over her shoulder.

“I think she’s hungry,” Ellen says, and Avery laughs when she sees Eden fruitlessly rooting at Ellen’s chest. “Here.” She tries to hold the baby out, but her arms are too weak, so she gives up and cradles Eden back to her chest.

Avery sighs at the sight and takes Eden back, settling down in the chair to nurse. Reyes stays standing by her side, and Avery leans her head against his hip as Eden latches and quiets down. Reyes idly runs his fingers through her hair as he chats with Ellen, telling her some things about Kadara and their life there that Avery hadn’t mentioned.

Avery flinches when the door slides open. She hadn’t heard anyone in the hallway, and now… Scott’s there, eyes wide and face red, staring at the ceiling.

“Jesus, Avery,” he snaps. “You just do that in public?”

Reyes’ fingers dig into Avery’s scalp, but he doesn’t speak. She lifts her head from his hip and he releases her, crossing his arms instead.

“Fuck you, too, Scott,” she says, voice mild. “You can come back later if it bothers you.”

“Kids--” Ellen starts, but Scott isn’t ready to let this one go.

“You disappear for four years and you show back up with your tit out?” His hands are on his hips. Avery knows he’s a grown-ass man -- they’re in their thirties now! -- but he’s still acting like a teenager with a stick up his ass. Four years don’t seem like long enough now.

“Scott!” Ellen’s trying to get all the way up, but gives up after a moment and just glares.

“I didn’t disappear, you dumbass. I said goodbye. You knew where I was and who I was with, and it’s not my fault you didn’t bother to come check on us.”

Beside her, Reyes is standing absolutely still. Avery glances up to see him just staring at Scott, a blank expression on his face but his eyes bright. He’s angry. If they’d run into Scott anywhere other than this hospital room, with Ellen and the baby both awake… Avery knows this would be going very differently.

“You didn’t say goodbye, you said ‘mom’s still alive, fuck you, I’m going to shack up with a criminal’.” 

Eden’s done eating, so Avery looks down to tuck herself away and lift the baby to her shoulder. She doesn’t stand and doesn’t raise her voice, just pats Eden’s back and lifts her eyes again to meet Scott’s furious glare.

“Is that why you didn’t bother to tell me Mom woke up?” She lifts an eyebrow. The red in Scott’s cheeks brightens, but she knows it’s not embarrassment. It’s more anger. “It sure was surprising news to hear from Harry, I have to say.”

Silence falls. Scott swallows hard. Reyes is practically vibrating with the effort it’s taking to hold himself in check, to not show his in-laws how furious he is, but Avery can always see straight through him.

Eden burps. Loudly. 

Ellen makes a choked-off sound that could be a laugh, but when Avery looks at her, she’s crying with one hand over her mouth. Avery’s heart sinks, and she can see Scott deflating out of the corner of her eye, all the fight draining out of him too in favor of, she hopes, guilt.

“Mama, I’m sorry--” Avery starts, but Ellen shakes her head and cuts her off.

“You two went through so much without me. I couldn’t protect you, and now you hate each other. You  _ hate  _ each other.”

Avery can’t look at Scott. She can’t.

“Can you just go? I’m happy to see you both, but just… just go for now. I need to be alone right now.”

Reyes reaches down and takes Eden, securing her in his left arm before scooping up her bag and sling with his free hand. Scott nearly jumps out of the way and Reyes strides out. Avery stands to follow, but can’t stop herself from leaning down and kissing the top of her mom’s head.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and Ellen just nods.

She strides after Reyes too, jogging to catch up to him.

He waits for her at the end of the hall, back straight, breathing measured. He doesn’t look at her, but he lets her take the bags from him and then tuck herself against his side. He wraps his arm around her and squeezes, and she can feel the tension in his body as he rests his cheek against the top of her head.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “Thank you for bringing me. You didn’t have to come.”

He squeezes her tighter and Eden starts to fuss. “Of course I did. I’d never make you face him alone.”

She tilts her head up to get a kiss, which he gives her with a thin smile. “I love you.”

“I love you. Are you okay?”

She shrugs a little. “No. I’ll feel better when we know what’s happening. She’ll have to decide where she wants to go soon, but for now they’re keeping her here for more treatments.”

“You told her she can stay with us?”

Avery nods. “Yeah, but that’s like asking her to choose between us at this point. She won’t want to do that, even after everything he did.”

“She’ll choose you.”

Avery jumps and turns around to see Scott standing with his hands in his pockets, a few feet away. Reyes stiffens at her side, and she turns to take Eden from him as she starts to cry.

“You were always Mom’s favorite,” Scott continues, apparently oblivious as Reyes moves so he’s standing between them, Avery half hidden behind his body. “And she’ll stay here until she’s better, and then she’ll go to Kadara to be with you even though she should stay here where she can work with the researchers.”

Avery leans around Reyes a bit, bouncing Eden on her shoulder. “There are researchers on every planet, dickface.”

Reyes exhales sharply. Scott just rolls his eyes.

“Is that why you didn’t tell me she was awake? Because you’re still jealous I’m her favorite?”

Scott clenches his jaw. Reyes is standing in a distinctly defensive position, even though they’re standing in the middle of a hospital corridor, and Scott looks at him instead of at Avery. “I just wanted some time with her.”

“Why? So you could manipulate her like you did me? Did you tell her I was dead, too?”

Scott takes two full steps forward before Reyes has him pinned to the wall by his throat. The thud of his body against the metal makes Avery flinch and Eden’s cries grow screechy; it also draws the attention of a pair of techs walking farther down the hall.

“I suggest,” Reyes says, voice very low, “that you think very carefully about the answer to my wife’s question.”

Scott brings his arms up like he’s going to break the hold, but Reyes’ fingers tighten just enough to get his point across, and Scott freezes again, breath coming fast, face turning the same angry red it was before.

He drags his eyes away from Reyes and looks at Avery. “I told her where you were. I swear.”

Reyes looks over his shoulder at Avery, who nods. He turns back to Scott and heaves a deep breath. “Don’t come near her again unless it’s to discuss your mother.”

Scott nods best he can, and Reyes releases him. Scott straightens out his shirt and tries to glare at the pair of them, but neither is afraid of him, not now. Reyes flexes his fingers and Scott nods again, pushing past them to leave with his head bowed.

“I’m sorry,” Reyes says, voice barely above a whisper. “I shouldn’t have--”

“It’s okay,” Avery says, cutting him off. Eden calms as her mother does, eyes wide and taking in the strange new space surrounding her. “Thank you.”

“Everything okay here?”

Both of them turn to see Harry coming down the hall at a brisk pace, two armed guards at his side. He’s looking up and down the hall, searching for something that isn’t them, and comes to a stop when he doesn’t see anyone else.

“Yeah, Harry,” Avery says. “Sorry. You know how it is with Scott.”

Harry nods and dismisses the guards, who turn and go back the way they came. “I’m sorry about that,” he says, stepping closer. “I called you as soon as I heard. They didn’t tell me either.”

“It isn’t your fault. Thank you again. I appreciate you keeping an eye on her for me.”

Harry smiles and the corners of his eyes crinkle. Avery smiles back.

“Want to hold her?” She offers Eden to him, and he takes her as his whole face lights up.

He cradles her against his chest, rocking gently back and forth. “She looks just like you,” he says, looking up at Reyes. Reyes smiles at the compliment and puts his hand on the small of Avery’s back. “Congratulations.”

The three adults stand there in silence and watch Eden squirming and yawning in Harry’s arms. After a few minutes, he passes her back to Avery and then gives her a half hug.

“I’m proud of you two,” he says. “I’m so glad everything worked out. I was worried when Scott brought you back.”

“Oh, thanks.” Avery’s blushing as Reyes shakes Harry’s hand. “We’ll be planet-side for a while, I think. We should have dinner some time when you’re free.”

“Definitely,” Harry says, reaching out to tickle Eden’s clothed foot in farewell. “You know where I’ll be.”

Avery turns to Reyes as Harry heads back to his office, leaving them as alone as they can be in a hospital full of people.

“You ready?”

He nods. “Always.”

\---

Alone in her room, Ellen cries silently into her hands. There’s no easy answer for this, for her. She said her goodbyes, and now she’s been thrust into a world she didn’t want where her children have grown up into completely different people than they were when she left them.

She doesn’t know what to do next. All she can do is take it one moment at a time.


End file.
